Mumbai doctors resume work

Over 6,000 resident doctors of Maharashtra were on strike.

Members of the Maharashtra Resident Doctors Association (MARD) on Saturday resumed their duties at the 27 municipal and state government hospitals after calling off their 12-day strike on Friday night.

"Our members started resuming duty since 8 am today. We expect all members to resume duty latest by tonight," MARD spokesperson Y Deshpande said.

Over 6,000 registered and unregistered resident doctors all over the state had participated in the strike, he said.

After a marathon 11-hour meeting with state government officials and Minister for Medical Education Dilip Valse Patil on Friday, the Association called off the strike after most of its demands were met.

"The minister has promised us that our stipend would be increased to 12,500," Deshpande said.

He said that in the case of some MARD members, who were given termination notices during the strike, verbal communication has been issued to BMC and state government authorities to let them resume duty.

However, in the absence of written communication on this aspect, concerned resident doctors were finding it difficult to resume work, Deshpande said.

"For example, the dean of Nair Hospital informed us that he is awaiting written instructions from BMC about allowing the concerned doctor to resume duty," he said.